Earnings call transcript: Elektroimportøren sees Q3 growth, stock dips

Elektroimportøren reported its Q3 2025 earnings with a notable increase in revenue and EBITDA, though net profit declined. Despite positive operational updates, the company’s stock fell 3.11% in pre-market trading. The dip followed the earnings release, which showed revenue slightly below forecasts.

Key Takeaways

• Q3 revenue grew by 7.1% year-over-year to NOK 436 million.
• EBITDA increased significantly from NOK 30 million to NOK 48 million.
• Net profit dropped to NOK 7 million from NOK 33 million the previous year.
• The stock price declined by 3.11% to NOK 14.00 in pre-market trading.

Company Performance

Elektroimportøren demonstrated solid growth in Q3 2025, with revenue rising 7.1% year-over-year, driven by strong performances in both B2B and B2C segments. The company outperformed the flat wholesale market, marking growth in all nine months of the year. However, the net profit fell sharply compared to last year, primarily due to increased operational costs.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: NOK 436 million (+7.1% YoY)
• Gross profit: NOK 159 million (+6.4% YoY)
• Gross margin: 36.5% (down from 36.7%)
• EBITDA: NOK 48 million (up from NOK 30 million)
• Net profit: NOK 7 million (down from NOK 33 million)

Earnings vs. Forecast

Elektroimportøren’s Q3 revenue came in slightly below the forecast of NOK 443.57 million. The earnings per share (EPS) forecast was 0.17, but the actual EPS was not disclosed in the call summary. The revenue miss was minor, yet it contributed to the negative market reaction.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings release, Elektroimportøren’s stock fell by 3.11% to NOK 14.00 in pre-market trading. This decline contrasts with the company’s recent stock performance, which has ranged between NOK 10.60 and NOK 17 over the past year. The drop reflects investor concerns over the revenue miss and declining net profit.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Elektroimportøren is preparing for a busy Q4, with new store openings and marketing campaigns. The company is exploring expansion opportunities in Sweden and anticipates a strong sales period during the peak season.

Executive Commentary

CEO Andreas Niss highlighted the company’s preparedness for the upcoming peak sales season, stating, "We are well prepared for the most important sales period of the year and are now excited for the peak season ahead of us." CFO Jørgen Wist emphasized the continued strong performance in the B2B segment.

Risks and Challenges

• Declining net profit could impact future growth and investor confidence.
• Competitive pressures in the electrical products market may affect margins.
• Economic uncertainties could influence consumer spending patterns.
• Expansion efforts in Sweden may face regulatory and operational challenges.

Elektroimportøren’s Q3 results showcase growth and strategic expansion efforts, though challenges remain in maintaining profitability and meeting market expectations.

Full transcript - Elektroimportoren As (ELIMP) Q3 2025:

Tron, Moderator/Host: Morning. We are pleased to welcome you to this third-quarter presentation with Elektroimportøren, represented by CEO Andreas Niss and CFO Jørgen Wist. I will hand over to you, Andreas. Please go ahead.

Andreas Niss, CEO, Elektroimportøren: Thank you very much, Tron, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to this Q3 presentation of Elektroimportøren. As usual, I will start with a short summary of Q3 and give you an update on key strategic areas and the operational activities for the quarter. I’ll then let Jørgen guide you through some more details on the financials before we update you on events after the period and finish off with a Q&A session. For the operational summary, in the third quarter, we continue to deliver solid revenue growth and strong margin management across both countries and customer segments. In Norway, the quarter opened reasonably well, with a growth slightly above 5% in July. We view this as a good result, given that July was one of the warmest months on record, typically a period that normally reduces store traffic.

Despite somewhat slow sales in August, we managed to grow with double digits in September. A fun fact from July is that in the second week of July, we sold as many cooling fans as we have done over the last four years in total. So very happy that we had those in stock. In Norway, it is B2B that drives the major part of our growth, and by that increases our B2B share of business, which improves our total gross profit but has a slightly negative effect on our gross margin % compared to last year. On channel development, the physical stores drive most of the growth in Norway, whilst in Sweden we have growth both on and offline. We signed one new store contract in the quarter. This time, it is Larvik that will see a new Elektroimportøren store open in Q2 next year.

Sweden continues to deliver strong like-for-like growth in revenue and very strong developmental margin. That, together with good cost control, makes it possible for us to deliver positive EBITDA in Sweden also for this quarter. Looking at the financials, we had a total revenue for the quarter of NOK 436 million, which is up NOK 29 million from last year, an increase of 7.1%. The like-for-like growth ended at 3.6%. Total gross profit is up 6.4% from last year. Gross margin percentage is slightly down to 36.5% from 36.7% last year. Operating expenses of NOK 110 million, up NOK 5 million from last year, which is mainly driven by our new stores. OPEX to sales ratio is down 0.7% to 25.1% from 25.8% last year. We deliver an EBITDA of NOK 48 million, which is up NOK 18 million from NOK 30 million last year. The adjusted EBITDA is at NOK 50 million compared to NOK 44 million in 2024.

Net profit of NOK 7 million compared to NOK 33 million last year. Last year, though, we released an earnout provision of NOK 44 million. If we adjust for the earnout, the improvement of net profit was NOK 18 million in the quarter and is NOK 27 million year to date. Looking a bit more at Norway, visitors in our stores are up 5%. The average basket and conversion rate is also slightly up, 1.5% and 0.7%. We have a total conversion rate of 54.7% in our stores. We experienced growth in both B2C and B2B, with B2C increasing with 3.9% and B2B increasing with 10.7% for the quarter. The wholesale market has been volatile in Q3, but year to date, the market is flat. In this environment, we have managed to outperform the market nine out of nine months.

Looking at Elbutik, we’re happy to see that the positive trend continues in Sweden, with strong growth in both revenue and profits. The revenue increased with 15% compared to last year. Gross margin percentage of 29.1% is up significantly from 20.9% last year. With that, we have a gross profit growth of over 39% in Q3. We deliver a positive EBITDA of NOK 5.7 million, up from NOK 0.3 million last year, fifth consecutive quarter with positive EBITDA in Sweden. If we look at our key strategic growth areas, this is what has happened in the quarter. One new store signed, as I mentioned, in Larvik, opens second quarter next year. We’re also progressing with other store expansion plans for Norway, and we have several promising discussions going on with landlords across Norway. SpotOn sales of NOK 10 million for the quarter increased with NOK 2 million compared to last year.

An internal highlight of this part of the year is always our annual Elektroakademia. Over six days, all employees and key suppliers gather, and the program includes two days where we update on product launches, new standards, and business tools, as well as sales and customer service training to prepare for the peak season. This is an important initiative to maintain our strong market position as a specialist in electrical products and solutions. The number one share of business for the quarter was 34.2%, slightly down from last year, impacted mostly by a high sales increase in EV charges, which is the category with the greatest growth in Q3, growing from NOK 30 million last year to NOK 41 million this year. Throughout the quarter, we have done our final preparations and adjustments for the big Q4 campaigns, which are the store opening in Bergen and Black Friday.

Sales in Sweden grew by 15%, visitors increased by 37%, conversion rate in the store is still above 70%, and we have now started to explore opportunities for Elbutik store number two and three. With that, I hand over to Jørgen to take you through the financials.

Jørgen Wist, CFO, Elektroimportøren: Thank you, Andreas. We start with the revenue. Total revenue in the third quarter was NOK 436 million, corresponding to an increase of 7.1% compared to last year. The increase was driven by store revenue in Norway and both store and online revenue in Sweden. The like-for-like revenue growth was 3.6% in the quarter. The strong performance in the B2B segment has continued during the third quarter, both in Norway and Sweden. B2B revenue increased by 10.7%, while B2C revenue increased by 3.9%. Online revenue in Norway increased by 1.6% in the third quarter compared to last year. As communicated earlier, online orders that are collected or delivered from our stores are included in store revenue. Hence, a major part of the B2B revenue, which is online orders but delivered from the stores, are recognized as store revenue.

Our physical store in Sweden contributed NOK 12 million in revenue for the quarter, while online revenue in Elbutik was NOK 35 million. B2B revenue in Sweden is included with NOK 9 million. Reduction in other revenue from last year is mainly solar project invoice from our project department in the third quarter 2024. Gross profit for the quarter was NOK 159 million, up from NOK 150 million last year. This translated into a gross margin of 36.5% compared with 36.7% in the same period of 2024. The slight decrease in margin was driven by customer mix in Norway, where a higher share of B2B revenue reduced the overall margin, as B2B sales typically have lower margin than the B2C sales. In Norway, the gross margin was 37.4% compared to 38.6% last year. Adjusted for the solar sales, the margin is in line with last year for both B2B and B2C segments.

There is NOK 1 million in loss from sales of solar products included in the gross profit, but this negative effect is added back in the adjustment as a reverse write-down of the solar products. The margin in Sweden was 29.1% compared to 20.9% last year. Margin continues to increase in both B2C and B2B segment as a result of improved store operation, category, and campaign management. Operating expenses in sales channels increased with NOK 3 million compared to last year, mainly as a result of two new stores in Norway. Other operating expenses increased with NOK 1 million due to general salary increase and KPI adjustments. OPEX to sales ratio at 25.1% compared to 25.8% last year. As communicated earlier, the group continues to maintain our rigid cost control, but the comparables will be tougher going forward due to the cost savings during the last years.

Reported EBITDA for the quarter was NOK 48 million, up from NOK 30 million last year. Last year’s figures include NOK 30 million of write-down of solar inventory, which is the main reason for the increase in EBITDA from other. As you could see, both countries contribute positively to the increase in EBITDA. Sweden is the largest contributor to the increase, but also the stores in Norway are contributing positively. EBITDA margin in the third quarter was 11.1%, up from 7.4% last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was NOK 50 million, up from NOK 44 million last year. EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 FX for the quarter was NOK 22 million, up from NOK 6 million last year. Net change in cash for a period was NOK 27 million. Decrease in working capital is mainly a result of seasonal movements such as public taxes, holiday pay, and provisions.

Cash flow from investments of NOK 4 million are mainly maintenance CapEx and store opening of Midtun. Cash flow from financing of NOK 22 million consists of lease payments. The IFRS 16 interest expense of NOK 6 million relating to the lease payments is included in net financials. As a result of this, we have available cash of NOK 82 million at the end of the third quarter. In addition, we have an unused overdraft facility of NOK 120 million. Excluding IFRS 16 FX, net interest-bearing debt was NOK 162 million at the end of the quarter, which corresponds to 1.8 times the last 12 months’ NGAAP EBITDA. The loan facilities had a net interest-bearing debt EBITDA covenant of 3.75 at the end of the quarter. I hand over to Andreas again, which will take you through the events after the period. Thank you, Jørgen.

Yes, what have happened since we closed the quarter after the end of Q3? We initiated a full recall of a construction board product after that laboratory analysis had confirmed traces of asbestos in samples of the product. For us, we have sold 9,431 boards since September last year to approximately 700 customers with a total revenue of NOK 1 million. On sales, Q4 started where Q3 ended, so we have continued the good trend from September with double-digit growth on sales in October. We opened our store number 31 in Bergen on 13th October. It was a record opening measured in revenue on the opening day, so a very successful opening. No specific events in Sweden after Q3 closing. The positive sales trend continues for Elbutik as well.

We’d like to say that after a period with some cautiousness in the private consumption, we experience slightly improved responses to campaigns and B2C sales. We are well prepared for the most important sales period of the year and are now excited for the peak season ahead of us. That was what we had, and then we open up for questions.

Tron, Moderator/Host: Thank you, Andreas. You may ask questions in the Q&A function. Please go ahead if you have any questions, and the management will answer those.

Everything was very clear today.

I can’t see that there are any questions, so I think everything was clear, and I’m sure the management is available to be contacted directly if there’s anything you’d like to ask about.

Definitely. Okay, thank you very much, everyone. Have a good day.

Thank you.

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